Synthesis Bank announces agreement with Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Geneva (ots)
Synthesis Bank, the Swiss leader in online investment banking, has entered into a marketing agreement with Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the largest futures exchange in the United States with the broadest global distribution for trading futures electronically. This makes the electronic trading platform, Synthesis TradingFloor (www.tradingfloor.com), CME's only partner in Switzerland.
In March 2005, Synthesis Bank launched the most complete and least expensive high-performance trading platform in the market. In early July 2005, Synthesis introduced Easy TradingFloor, offering private investors (from CHF 2,000) a simplified version that is just as effective and competitive.
With today's announcement, Synthesis Bank further increases the visibility of its range of options and derivatives by offering its customers the ability to trade CME interest rates, currencies and stock indices (NASDAQ(r), S&P 500(r) and Russell(r)). These products can be traded virtually 24 hours every trading day in real time. In addition, CME will be working with Synthesis to offer educational seminars online and speaking opportunities.
Synthesis Bank's CEO and majority shareholder, Charles-Henri Sabet says, "We are proud of this agreement with America's principal futures exchange because it proves two things: firstly, that we have won the trust of the major international players and have gained credibility in the international markets in just a few months, and secondly, that the volume of transactions we generated with CME was important and convincing enough to further build on our relationship."
CME's managing director for Europe and Asia, Arman Falsafi adds, "This co-operation with Synthesis Bank is important for CME as we continue to make our diversified products accessible via our electronic trading platform to a growing number of clients around the world. As global investment benchmarks, the CME's stock indices, Eurodollar and foreign exchange products have long been strategic financial instruments allowing companies and private investors to manage their risk and exposure."
Last year, as part of the exchange's European growth strategy, CME launched six telecommunication hubs in key European financial centers (Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt, Gibraltar, Milan, Paris) following the opening of the inaugural hub in London in January 2002. The hubs help improve access and reduce connectivity costs for current and potential CME market users in the region.
Average daily volume for CME was 4.4 million contracts for second-quarter 2005, a 33 percent increase from second-quarter 2004. Trading on the CME(r) Globex(r) electronic trading platform grew 82 percent to 3.1 million contracts per day in second-quarter 2005 from 1.7 million per day in second-quarter 2004. Electronic volume represented 71 percent of total CME volume in the quarter, compared with 66 percent in first-quarter 2005 and 52 percent in second-quarter 2004.
Synthesis Bank
In 1991, Charles-Henri Sabet, then aged 30, founded Trading & Commercial Consulting (TCC), a Geneva-based company specialising in forex, options and interest rates. By 1999, TCC had grown into one of Europe's leading trading firms, and the Swiss Federal Banking Commission granted it a banking licence. The company changed its name to Synthesis Bank in 2000. In 2004, Synthesis launched a 24-hour online trading platform called TradingFloor, where private and professional investors can trade all financial products in the most competitive conditions: stocks, bonds, options, futures, precious metals, spot and term currencies. Synthesis has also become the specialist in CFDs (Contracts For Difference). www.synthesisbank.com
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. became the first publicly traded U.S. financial exchange on Dec. 6, 2002. The company was added to the Russell 1000(r) Index on July 1, 2003. It is the parent company of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com), the largest futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its CME Globex electronic trading platform and on its trading floors. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in interest rates, equities, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.6 billion per day in settlement payments in the first half of 2005 and managed $43.7 billion in collateral deposits at June 30, 2005, including $4.0 billion in deposits for non-CME products. Further information about CME and its products is available on the CME Web site. www.cme.com
Contacts: Synthesis Bank Pierre-Yves Revaz, Head of Marketing & Communication Tel. +41/22/317'95'00 Internet: www.tradingfloor.com
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Allan Schoenberg, Associate Director Tel. +01/312/930'81'89 Internet: www.cme.com